I’m between projects now. My new How to Make Masks! book has gone to the printer, but it still hasn’t appeared on Amazon.com. Soon, though, so I’m on pins and needles, waiting…

Meanwhile, my daughter and I have been having long discussions about artist’s websites, and we’d like to get some feedback from you, too. Questions keep coming up in our discussions, and there doesn’t seem to be any definitive answers for them.

For instance, I found this article about sculptor’s websites that immediately convinced me that the site’s home page should be all about the artist. But, on the other hand, you also want people to see your artwork right away. And it should be really easy to figure out how to buy something – you don’t want people to click so many different links that they change their mind before they hit that order page. And, most new visitors probably won’t land on the home page anyway, because they’ll come in from the search engines and land on one of the inner pages of the site, which means that the whole framework of the site has to be set up to make things easy for visitors.

Jessie is in the middle of re-designing her artist’s site, and, now that my latest book is finished, I’m thinking about trying to sell some of my own work online. Before we make huge decisions about what our sites should look like, we’d really like some feedback from you.

Here’s some of the questions I hope you’ll help us answer:

• When you visit another artist’s website, is there anything in particular that makes you think you’d like to own that person’s work? Is it the artist’s statement? The way the images are presented? A story that goes along with each piece of artwork that makes you feel connected to it? If you’ve actually purchased art from a website recently, what made it easy for you to make that decision?
• What sites have you visited that you liked so much you bookmarked them or sent a link to friends? Did you like the site for the basic design, the work that was shown, the text? Would you actually buy something from that site, or do you just like visiting?
• How important is the “design” of a website when you make a buying decision. Does a pretty design sometimes get in the way?
• How can you encourage people to comment on pages that show a work of art? It’s easy to get comments on a site like this one, where people come to learn how to do something, or share their own knowledge with others. But feedback is so important to any artist (it gets lonely in those studios), so any artist would like to get comments on pages where they show off their work. Have you seen non-how-to art sites that made you want to enter the discussion?

If you have examples of “good” websites that you’d like to share with us, a link would be nice. But be sure to tell us why you like the site, and if it made you want to buy something. There’s a very big difference between an attractive website and one that actually works as a store. I think that’s the biggest problem when an artist designs a site – designing is what we do, and selling is something that we usually hate doing, so we’re probably the wrong people to design our own sites. But, on the other hand, nobody knows our own work better than we do.

Of course, there’s a whole ‘nother issue – should we sell our work from our own website, or should we put our work on a site like etsy.com, instead? I’ve checked the sales stats on a lot of pages on etsy, and most people don’t seem to be doing very well. Is it because their page gets lost among so many different artists? Is it easier to send traffic to a separate site, or to get traffic to a page on a huge site like etsy?

So – if you have an opinion on this subject (and I hope you do) please add your comments to this post. What makes a good artist’s website, from the customer’s point of view? While you’re at it, are there any changes you would like to see in the UltimatePaperMache.com site? Let’s talk…

Herding Apples, Jessie's Oil Painting for the "Every Mother Counts" Benefit Auction

This is going to be a fast post. We have another mask post coming this afternoon, I think, but I wanted to make sure nobody missed Jessie’s benefit auction. Jessie will donate 100% of the final bid to the charity Every Mother Counts. (Check out the movie on the site to see why this is such an important cause.)

Click here to see Jessie Rasche’s post about the auction and find out how to participate. A lot of other artists are also in on the event, so you’re sure to find something for your own home, while helping so many mothers in need.

Happy bidding!

UPDATE: a name has been chosen. Thanks to everyone who submitted suggestions, even if I didn’t use your idea for the name of the new site. Now I hope you’ll all start thinking about how you would describe your ideal community – your ideas will be the core of the new site.

Original post:

While we wait for more submissions to our Halloween Mask Party (I was really expecting to receive more of them by now – you are working on your masks, aren’t you?) I thought I’d ask for some help with another project I dreamed up this morning. (I love our group projects! And so do a lot of other people – our Practical Paper Mache page has been viewed by over 2,000 people this month, and the free paper mache ebook you helped create has been downloaded almost 500 times in September alone.)

This new project isn’t about paper mache, but it will definitely be creative. I have been thinking about intentional communities a lot lately, and it’s a subject we’ve discussed on this blog before. Every time I’ve posted any thoughts about an artists community (or eco village or whatever you might want to call it), we get a lot or comments, even though a post about this subject doesn’t fit very well on a paper mache blog.

I think many of us sometimes daydream about what it would be like to live in a community that reflects our values a little better, or where we could more freely create alongside others with similar interests, or where we might  feel we belong in a way that we don’t in our current neighborhoods. But we don’t pursue the idea because we think it’s not important, or we think it’s pie in the sky, or we think “normal” people who think about normal things might smirk — so we hide our fledgling ideas in our mental closet, not yet fully formed. The ideas might flutter a bit when we’re rummaging around in there, looking for some other idea or thinking about something else, but we never let them back out so they can fly…

Whew – that was a lot of bird metaphors – I’ve been reading a book about parrots this morning…

Anyhoo – I thought it would be fun to put together a new website where anyone who’s interesting in this subject can express their ideas, both practical and fanciful, about what an intentional community could look like. At this point, I know pretty much how the site will look, and I’m building some ideas about how each of you can participate in a fun and inventive way so that all the submissions will have some continuity of form, even though the ideas we submit will all be very different. In fact, the more different the better.

But I can’t start building the new blog until after we have a name for it – and that’s what I need your help on now.

I hope you’ll get a few brain cells firing so you can help us come up with a catchy name for the new site. It will be about imaginary intentional communities, so any site name we choose will need to allow for a great deal of creative diversity. After we get a few ideas for names we’ll pick one that we think would work best, and we’ll go from there.

And if we don’t get any ideas for the site’s name, I’ll know that this isn’t a project worth pursuing — which is also valuable information to have.

Have fun. Be sure to put your suggested names for the new imaginary intentional community blog in the comments below. If you can’t come up with anything catchy, ask your kids to help you out.  And remember to get those masks (or any other Halloween-related project) done soon so we can showcase them here before Halloween! (Not that I’m nagging or anything…)

Update: I think I’ve come up with an imaginary setup that will help us think freely about our intentional community ideas, without the usual constraints – like reality – getting in the way:

The UN has determined in their infinite wisdom (we’re making things up, remember) that the world’s leaders are not able to come up with useful solutions to all the problems that are now facing us. They decided that it’s actually the individuals and communities of the world where solutions will be found. To help create an environment where people are free to experiment and play with new ways of living with each other and the earth, the UN created a powerful new committee that will support a giant social experiment, and you’re invited to participate.

To participate in the experiment, you and other people from around the world will design new intentional communities. In our imaginary world, your new community plan can take any form that your creativity allows. In spite of their great diversity, all the new communities will be linked together so they can freely communicate with each other, learn from each other, and offer each other encouragement and support.

The UN can’t offer financial support, but they will help convince local authorities to bend the normal rules a bit, if zoning requirements or other regulatory impediments might get in the way. In spite of their lack of funding, the UN believes the opportunity to be a pioneer in such a huge and important project will be enough to encourage the creation of at least 1,000 (imaginary) experimental communities, all of which will be searching for a solution to a specific problem.

The problem your community chooses to address can be social, environmental, political, spiritual, psychological, or anything else that matters to you  – as long as you can find 19 to 150 other (imaginary) people to build your community with you.

That’s where the new site comes in – before presenting your plan to the UN you would need to advertise your ideas in a convincing, compelling ad to help you find those other like-minded people. The new site is where you’ll place your “ad.”

Your ad can be all text, or it can include original photos, drawings, paintings or sculptures that illustrate the essence of your idea. What problems will your community address? What will living there be like, both in physical terms (land, houses, amenities) and in emotional and spiritual terms? Where will you put your new community? And why would other people want to join you, instead of staying where they are?

We’re still looking for a perfect name for the site, but we’ve received some interesting ideas already. We seem to have a bird theme going so far, which is rather nice, I think – so if there’s a way to bring that into the mix while also showing in as few words as possible that these new communities will all be part of an (imaginary) international social experiment, and that they’re all different but connected to each other, that would be fabulous.

And, of course, if you think of any improvement for this imaginary framework for our project so more people might want to play, please feel free to contribute your ideas about that, too. Since we’re making this up as we go along, we still have time to change the rules.

I mentioned back in July that I was trying to learn how to make felt. Now it’s September, and I finally have one pair of moccasins that I actually like. (Next week I’ll start working on those hats again…)

Felt Moccasins

If I can manage to make a few more slippers and hats that I like, I might even start a new blog – since this, of course, is supposed to be a blog about paper mache.  By the way – I want to thank all the guest authors who’ve been sharing their wonderful creations with us lately while I struggled to learn my new craft. We’ve had some fabulous guest posts lately, don’t you think?

There are a lot of reasons why it’s taking me so long to get the hang of this felting business. This process is a lot harder than it looks, especially when you’re learning from books. The biggest reason, though, is that I can’t seem to stick to the instructions – I always figure there’s an easier way to do just about anything, so I meander off, experimenting with this and that. Of course, most of my experiments don’t work, but that doesn’t seem to stop me.

I was trying to find a method that takes less physical labor (not that I’m lazy, or anything…), by letting me use the washing machine for fulling. That’s the wet part of wet felting, and when I do it by hand I end up with water all over the floor and my arms get tired. I also tend to get bored with the process long before the felt is really done. So I experimented, trying to find something that works as well but is easier for me. I think I have at least part of the process figured out (and I have a big pile of rejects, from all the experiments that didn’t work). Of course, any true felter would probably be appalled by my method, but that doesn’t worry me too much.

For these slippers, I started out with a traditional center seam moccasin pattern. The wool is needle-felted on both sides of cotton muslin, with white wool on one side and the other side is a mixture of naturally dark wool (thanks, Becky!) and alpaca (thanks, Mary!). Then I dyed the pieces, added the spots and blue trim, sewed them together, and fulled. The blue trim is yarn made from silk sari material. I love the colors, but the yarn breaks easily, so I wrapped it in blue wool and hand-rolled it to felt the wool, trapping the pieces of silk inside. There’s a fairly stiff core inside the silk yarn, and I like the way it helps to hold the upper part of the slippers at a jaunty angle – these moccasins are intended for an adventurous 4 year old boy.

I have several more pairs already dyed and ready for me to finish – and then I start on hats, again. Wish me luck!

Sun On Spring Trees Oil Painting by Jessie Rasche

Jessie just signed up for a new site that specializes in helping 2-D artists sell their work online. Naturally, I asked her to tell me about it. The site doesn’t handle sculptures, but I know many of you sell paintings and prints, so you might be interested.

Jessie is trying out  Daily Paintworks, which is sort of the artists’ new alternative to selling on Ebay. There is a monthly fee of $9.95 which gets you a personal page and free listings (unlike Ebay where you can post without a member fee – or pay a member fee, depending on your preference). The DPW interface is very easy to use and even has an option to auto-load from your blog! And the postings are attractive. So far Jessie gives it a thumbs up.

Here is an example listing (Jessie’s). (And if you happen to like her work, she always appreciates comments on her blog.)

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/buy/auction/9291

If you’ve tried this site for selling artwork, or any other site, please let us know how it worked out for you. Who wouldn’t like to make more money selling their artwork?

Today, I found out through the good folks on the Yahoo Paper Mache Art group that we recently lost one of our own. Jonty, who shared so much of his knowledge with anyone who asked, has passed away. He had a big and generous heart, but it just wasn’t strong enough.

I spent most of the morning in a blue funk, deeply saddened by the loss of someone I never met -  but how to express it?

Patch said it best, I think:

It is a special kind of sad — you never meet the person, often never hear a voice or see a photo, but you feel as if you know the person well, and can say things to him/her that you wouldn’t say to your closest ‘virtual’ friend for fear of shame or laughter, or you learn so much from the person it is as if they stood by your side with instructions.  And then, the email person you knew is gone and you never knew their last name, never mind anything else except vague generalities.  We think life is a road you can drive down, but it is a bit of papier mache newsprint, blowing away in the wind………………..
patch

Thank you, Jonty – wherever you are – for being a part of so many lives. You will be missed.

And a creative question for you — that also has nothing whatsoever to do with paper mache…

Garden Window Installed, Just in Time for Snow

Last month I started making some big changes to the front of my house, and the project has taken up most of my creative energy. That’s my excuse for not producing any paper mache sculptures lately.

First, I decided to hire someone to take down a roof thingy that extended from the front door over the front walk and out to the mailbox – the thing is impossible to describe, and I took no “before” photos, but now I wish I had. Once the structure was reduced to a small stack of lumber, I started to design a garden window to increase the amount of light coming into my enclosed front porch. I wanted to use as much of the used lumber as I could. I tried Google Sketch-Up, which is much easier to use than I thought it would be.

Garden Window from Inside, With Tomatoes

I have absolutely no carpentry skills whatsoever, and I have never once been able to measure a board accurately or cut one straight. However, the window did get finished, and although it looks quite rough and no carpenter should ever be allowed to see it, it does work. I built the window frame on my back deck and moved it out to the front as soon as the bottom support was finished.

Of course, we got some snow the day after the Solexx plastic was attached to the frame. (Sun for the first time yesterday – finally!)

I sharpened my shovel yesterday and started digging up the rest of the front yard. It’s looking more like a farm every day. I bought some 20′ rebar to make arches for the runner beans, and I can’t wait for the weather to warm up so I can plant them. And the chickens are doing well – 4 eggs a day, every day, since the middle of January.

The chicken’s outside run has a layer of straw and leaves about 8 to 10 inches deep. It keeps them busy scratching for the worms underneath, and they’re turning it into a very nice mulch that should make the veggies happy. I also let them out in the yard to search for grass and bugs for a few hours every day (when there’s no snow…) and I’m currently busy fencing off the garden so they won’t eat the peas before I do.

Light Brahma Chickens on Deep Litter

See – I have been busy. Not much time for paper mache lately, but I keep coming up with ideas for later.

Speaking of ideas, remember to submit your ideas for the Practical Paper Mache project. We need as many ideas as we can get before the May 30 deadline. Which reminds me – I don’t think I’ve told you about Deyana’s paper mache boat. Click on that link and go check it out – the kids are loving it.

Now, for that creative question:

I saw an idea over on the Transition Town Totnes website that I really liked – but from what I can see on their site, the idea didn’t really go anywhere. I thought I’d share the idea with you and see if you can come up with some suggestions that would help make a similar program work here, in my town.Or in yours, too, if you think the idea is good enough.

This is really similar to what we’re already doing on this blog with the Practical Paper Mache project, but doing it locally. Everyone has a skill or knowledge that other people would like to learn, and most people enjoy teaching their skills to other people. Getting the teachers and learners matched up is the challenge. For instance, I’d like to learn a bit about welding, and I’d like to re-learn how to knit. I have a real hankering from some home-made wool socks. I would enjoy teaching a few people how to do a bit of paper mache, or how to keep some chickens happy.

A formal classroom isn’t needed for that kind of skill-sharing, and no tuition should be needed. Just a few new friends showing each other how to do things that will make their lives more interesting.

So – here’s the place where your suggestions would be great. My concerns with starting something like that are:

• If the skill-sharing program revolves around a website, how do you get the word out around town without spending any money?
• How do you keep the program very informal, so no one person is “in charge,” except for the person who keeps the website updated?
• How can people feel comfortable sharing their skills in their own homes or gardens, when they may not know the people who come to learn? This a safety issue, especially since many of the best teachers will probably be elderly. Conducting the classes at a senior center would work for some things, but not for tree pruning or herb gardening…
• How can a website be set up so that it’s easy to submit a request for a teacher, or for a teacher to announce an informal class? Has anyone seen a website that does this sort of thing well?
• And, most importantly, do you think this idea could work? If it was set up in your town, do you think you’d personally be willing to participate? What kinds of skills would you be willing to share with your neighbors, and what skills would you like to learn?

So get your thinking caps on. Keep your practical paper mache projects coming, and chime in below if you have any ideas for how to set up this skill-sharing project. I’ve never done anything like this on a local level (oddly enough, websites are easier for me on an international scale, because I haven’t really learned much about local search. And, being a hermit doesn’t help much, either…).

OK – your turn. Add your suggestions in the comment box below.

I want to have a contest.  The details haven’t been worked out yet, so I hope you’ll help me figure out how to make this work.

[edit: The contest idea quickly morphed into a reader-supported project. You can read about it here. You can see what we've come up with so far here. And you can also pretty much ignore the rest of this post... ]

Here’s what I’ve come up with so far:

• I’d like the contest project to be limited to ideas/examples/tutorials for using paper mache for practical objects. By “practical,” I mean that the finished project will be more than purely decorative – beautiful as well as functional should get extra points, of course. (Points? – another issue that hasn’t been worked out).
• I’d like the ideas to be useful to people with limited means. I think extra points should go to ideas that could make life better for someone living in a tar-paper shack, and equally useful for someone living in suburbia.

A few examples of practical paper mache: The Chinese once used laminated paper to make military helmets, the French made furniture that still sells for big bucks on eBay, and the Japanese (when they don’t have other things to worry about) repair baskets so they can go on using them instead of throwing them away. Those are just a few of the hundreds of things that can be made with paper mache. If we put our minds to it, we can come up with many more than that.

My hope is that the contest project will create a body of work that would be useful to people from all walks of life. This blog gets as many as 2,000 readers a day from all over the world – which means that your idea could travel to places you may have never heard of. Even if you don’t officially win, your idea could be exactly what someone thousands of miles away needs to make their life easier. How cool is that?

Since laminated paper (paper layered together with paste or glue) is the strongest form of paper mache, I think we should limit the ideas to that form. It’s also the form of paper mache that is accessible to almost everyone, since the supplies are so cheap.

Anyone who submits a practical paper mache project will need to understand that their idea will be published here on this blog, and once ideas show up here they tend to take on a life of their own.

OK – your turn. How do you think we could make this work? Do you think it would be fun? Start writing in the comment section below. (Be sure to add comments here on the blog instead of sending me an email, so everyone can read your ideas.)

See this page for the “rules” and how to submit your entry. All entries will be published here. Enjoy!

Jessie announced a new contest on her oil painting blog last week, and some lucky person will win one of her original oil paintings. I didn’t want any of my own blog readers to miss out on a chance to win, so I talked her into writing up this short guest post:

Hi Jonni’s fans,

I love giving away paintings, and I really want more people to see my art. So…When I get to 100 Facebook likes (fans) I’ll give away one of these paintings (winner’s pick), complete with simple frame and shipping.

Everyone who is a FB fan when I get to 100 will get one entry, and everyone who shares this post will get two entries! Good luck! Want two more entries? Mention this giveaway in your blog!

Let me know if you share this or mention it in your blog so you get your entries! Thank you.

How to Like or Share? Go here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jessie-Rasche/157075338095 and click the links shown below. Please let me know if you run into any issues.

My daughter, Jessie Rasche, will be showing some of her new paintings at a show in Spokane this week. If you happen to be in the area, please stop by. Here’s Jessie:

It’s called 20 under 40, and is a “juried invitational” at Tinman gallery in Spokane, opening this Friday from 5-9 pm, and will be up from Feb 4-26th. The jurors chose four of my paintings of parents with their children for the show. http://www.tinmanartworks.com/. Wish me luck!

We can’t post a photo of one of the paintings that will be in the show, at the gallery’s request. But if you can’t make it to the show, check out Jessie’s newest landscape paintings on her blog. Here’s her latest:

"Lines"

Her figure paintings will go back on her blog as soon as the show is over.